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Cancer patients aged 60 and older were 35% less likely to have Alzheimer's disease, while older people with Alzheimer's had a 43% lower cancer risk than the general population, according to an Italian study in the journal Neurology. Being diagnosed with one condition appeared to offer considerable protection in terms of reducing the chances of developing the other, researchers said. The study analyzed data on 204,000 people in Italy.

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An analysis of blood samples found that levels of lysosomal proteins were elevated up to 10 years before the a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, according to a study in the journal Neurology. The study included 20 people whose blood samples were taken before and after diagnosis with Alzheimer's disease, as well as 46 healthy controls and 42 people whose blood was taken after diagnosis with Alzheimer's or frontotemporal dementia.

Organ transplant patients who were treated with Calcineurin inhibitor-based anti-rejection drugs developed dementia and Alzheimer's disease at lower rates than the general population, according to a study in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

Criminal activity could signal an underlying degenerative disorder in older adults, according to a study in JAMA Neurology. Analysis of medical records from 2,397 patients with Alzheimer's disease or other dementia showed that 204 had a history of criminal behavior. Of those, 64 had frontotemporal dementia, 42 had AD, 24 had primary progressive aphasia and the remainder had other types of dementia. More than 6.4% in the frontotemporal dementia group with criminal history showed verbal or physical violence compared with 3.4% in the primary progressive aphasia group and 2% in the Alzheimer's group.

Older people with high pulse pressure are at risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, a new study suggests. Blood pressure data and spinal fluid analyses were collected from 177 patients, and those ages 55 to 70 with higher pulse pressure were more likely to have AD biomarkers in their cerebral spinal fluid, according to the study in the journal Neurology. "These results suggest that the forces involved in blood circulation may be related to the development of the hallmark Alzheimer's disease signs that cause loss of brain cells," said researcher Daniel A. Nation.

A study of 3.5 million veterans revealed an inverse relationship between Alzheimer's disease and most types of cancer, excluding prostate cancer and melanoma. Chemotherapy for all cancers but prostate was associated with a 20% to 45% lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, researchers reported at an Alzheimer's Association meeting.